Britain Today today is brought to you by English Beat's 'Save it For Later', and a sad kitten who has eaten too many biscuits. 

From the nation that brought you colonialism comes more immigration hypocrisy, this time with the hysteria preventing artistic exchange.  Daft as a paintbrush.  On a somewhat similar topic, Anton Vowl writes intelligently on 'white' Britishness (and rumours of demise). 

Under daft as a brush, see also: Lord Young, who has resigned after suggesting that during the 'so-called recession' we've 'never had it so good'.  The most interesting comment, of course, has been over whether what he's gone and said might be true: tosh, says the Spectator, though, wait a second, says Stumbling and Mumbling.  Meanwhile, Dave Osler at Labour Uncut notes that Lord Young (and his well-off ilk) have always had it better. 

More big news came last week of course in the looming spectre of the royal wedding.  My thoughts about Prince William don't get much far beyond wondering whether he is actually the most boring man in Britain, or whether an accountant from Milton Keynes might just pip him to the title.  For sheer entertainment value I'd rather see Fergie and Andrew try it all over again (after re-uniting on I'm a Celebrity, of course).  Anyway, here's Paul Richards on the wedding, the monarchy, and the Labour party's relationship to it all. 

The Indy reviews Jesse Norman's The Big Society and suggests it might be the clearest explanation yet (but that isn't necessarily saying much!). More book reviews over at Open Kingdom, where two books about why the Tories didn't gain a majority at the election are put head-to-head. 

Since the Coalition took power, Britain has become one of the 'most data-friendly countries', according to Datablog which wonders whether government spending data can really change the world?

Here's the full text of Nick Clegg's recent political reform speech.  Worth reading, I think.  In more Clegg coverage, William Davies asks 'who is the fairest of them all?'. 

Quick and without much explanation today, I'm afraid, since I've just eaten too many eccles cakes to be able to move much! 

Datablog asks: what's the real number of jobless people in Britain?

The Heritage Crafts Association spring conference will be held on the 19th of March 2011 at the V&A.  It looks a steal at £25/30. 

Simon Barrow (Ekklesia) on why he has no faith in the Big Society. 

A couple of posts about an interesting new book on Britain, Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and Its Meanings.  Ken Worpole comments as does Nick Pearce. 

David Cameron and his box of surprises strikes again.  Is the UK about to follow in the footsteps of Bhutan and measure gross national happiness?  The nef are certainly excited, since they've been advocating the measurement of wellbeing rather than an all-out focus on GDP for a long time.  Jules Peck at LFF is also keen on the idea.  Apparently Cameron had earlier gone quiet on an idea of 'General Wellbeing', and the Spectator wonders what's happened to make talking about happiness worthwhile again. 

Of course there have been a few inevitable sniggers over the idea of measuring wellbeing coming so close on the heels of welfare cuts.  On which topic (the IDS cuts, not the sniggering), Kate Green has some insightful comment. 

Over now to my regular C of E slot and we have a gloriously learned piece about the flying bishops from Diarmaid MacCulloch.  Bishop Alan Wilson, fast becoming a regular to watch over at the Guardian's CiF, considers the Anglican covenant.  Elsewhere, the Church is copping flak for trying to flog Auckland Castle. 

Totally unrelated, but I rather enjoyed this potted bio of Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson, who was one of the first female MPs (and included in Churchill's war cabinet, no less). 

Sociological Images have got a graph up from David Nutt's work on drug harm in Britain.  The rankings are very interesting, but so are the differences between 'harm to others' and 'harm to users'.  Let's pause for a moment in a dream of sensible policy.

Over at the C of E, Thinking Anglicans are reporting that 50 clergy are set to join the Ordinariate.  Some of them will be retired.  The Church has 1338 ordination candidates in training, at last count.  (Just a thought with which to read the inevitable Church in Crisis! headlines.)  Back to the flying bishops, Liturgy wonders if the faux-bishop will be having a faux-farewell? 

The IDS welfare white paper has hit and The Spectator has helpfully read it and come up with one of those ten things you need to know lists.  A big part of the whole thing is the replacement of a raft of welfare payment possibilities with a universal credit system.  But, from what I can tell, the changes won't be coming in until 2013 and will take until 2017 to be fully up and running.  What might happen then if the Coalition doesn't exist anymore? 

Dan Hodges wonders who will be Ed's guru.  I'm pretty interested in the suggestion that there might be a Labour turn to Bauman. 

An independent commission on high pay has been launched.  It is called the High Pay Commission.  It will tell us that high pay is too high.

Simon Schama (The history tsar?) has come up with 6 bits of British history that every student should know.  The Guardian book blog is challenging readers to come up with 6 of their own.  I shall think on.  What do you think? 

Seatbelts on, please.  This is going to be a biggie. 

There has been quite a lot of comment about the student protest.  I tend to agree with this suggestion from The Spectator that the violence is likely to help rather than hinder the Coalition's cause. 

There has also been a lot of political moaning about the European Court's judgment that British prisoners must have the right to vote.  I'm with Kate Green: so they should. 

Off course the other big news has been IDS and his work-for-the-dole scheme.  Well, it isn't quite.  The idea, apparently, is to pack long-term (12 months+) unemployed off on a month's community service.  Excellent comment from Jackie Ashley (who took a Guardian comments bashing for it).  More discussion on the carrot and the stick from ToryDiary.  (Though must we have the spurious 'supporting families' bits ... says this daughter-of-multiply-reconstituted-families.)

Ross McKibbin in the LRB has a must-read on the current political/economic situation.  Add this to a very interesting perspective over on the Inequalities blog on 'why the welfare state doesn't matter any more'. Elsewhere, Sunny Hundal writes on why the left shouldn't oppose all cuts and Jonathan Todd argues that Labour must consider (and articulate) multiple futures, not just certain post-cut doom.  

Oldham post-Woolas (you done good, Harriet) is shaping up to be one to watch.  ToryDiary look at whether it should be given to the Lib Dems ... or if the Tories should put up a good fight.  Regardless, we might see here the North's first real political comment on how the Coalition is going. 

Amidst all of this political talk, Kerim Friedman's look at Bourdieu and the role of the public intellectual hits the spot nicely. 

Over at the CofE, the final reccommendations from the Faith and the Future of the Countryside conference have been released.  It has been a bit of a speaking out week for the Church with ++Rowan expressing grave concerns about welfare reforms.  (Although that Telegraph link dramatically hypes up 'church in crisis' over the flying bishops!)

Michael Young (author of 1957's Family and Kinship in East London) remembered.  His life and work calls, Paul Richards argues, for a Good, not a Big, society. 

I reckon the 70s are fast becoming the new 60s as the darling decade of scholarly research.  Andrew O'Hagan writes on the 70s style. 

Whew!  Can I have the weekend now? 

The big palaver has been Demo2010, the student protest march in London which turned ugly.  The threat of violence is often inherent in a protest, but it often seems doubly so in a student one.  This was of course not violence igniting throughout the crowd, but the usual "yeah, that showed 'em" brigade who excel at ruining it for everybody else.  (On HE reform itself, see this article about Mandelson, Labour and the Browne report.) 

The shouting-and-placard-fest marks David Cameron's 6 month anniversary as PM.  He'll be out for his tea, then.  ToryDiary's Paul Goodman reflects on 6 months of 'Dave'.

North-South divide watch: now then, here's summat on that.  (I am reminded to review Helen Jewell's book on this.)  

An interesting post by Aaron Peters at LFF on 'anxious aspiration'. Peters' solution is a Labour politics of 'familiar fairness in unfamiliar times'.  Yet, elsewhere, Mark Vernon writes that 'a rigorously fair [society], would, actually, be an inhuman one.'

Phil Woolas has gone, but questions of racism and political campaigning remain.  Two responses from the Labour blogs: Dan Hodges suggests 'Phil Woolas is our fall guy' and Jon Lansman responds that 'this isn't a working class racism problem, this is a Labour problem'. 

Finally, stepping away from the politics!  On the heritage front, No Tech Magazine have sniffed out a bunch of free online pamphlets about things like tool care, hedging, and dry stone walling. Also, British Waterways are planning big work on the canal network.  Someone remind me to try and see the lock gate workshop at Stanley Ferry!

Don't be shocked, but homosexuality and women bishops continue to be is-sues in the CofE.  The Bishop of Wakefield has been up in my own stomping ground of Calderdale and has some sensible comments on homophobia and the church.  Also, the flying bishops appear to be finally flying off. 

A small stack of interesting political bits and pieces: Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions (sort of the anti-IDS, I guess) Douglas Alexander has been busily pointing out the obvious flaw in OsCam's welfare cuts, i.e., people can't go and get jobs if there aren't any.  On the "cut this, not that" front the always-good Simon Jenkins asks if Britain really needs the military?  And another whiff of completely unexpected Conservatism around bugger all being done about bank bonuses. 

The Heritage Crafts Association chair's report is an interesting glimpse on what they've been up to over the last few months. 

Finally, Kea plums are up for protected status through the EU. 

I have spent my writing time today (read in the morning, write in the afternoon ... or lose all that reading to sieve brain) being fretful about the structure of my upcoming confirmation seminar paper and trying to collect my thoughts on the CSR into some sort of vaguely coherent blog post. 

So let's be quick about these links then.  Chop chop.

Marina Hyde on why Boris Johnson is Britain's answer to Sarah Palin.  Oh yes she did. 

Popping about twitter: Michael Gove wants to ban BNP members from teaching.  (I hate to be logical in the face of a swipe at that lot, but surely the workaround would just be to be a rapid supporter, but not to join?  A lot harder to police support than membership.)

Oooh!  BBC slideshow of then and now pictures of high streets.  Neat, would be the technical term. 

And goodnight!

The general election is evidently, to publishing, the gift that just keeps on giving.  Andrew Rawnsley's The End of the Party has been around a while, though it is out in a new edition which the Indy have briefly reviewed (briefly, as is their wont, and why I don't usually get up my hopes about their reviews).  The Guardian have a bumper review of all the election/policy books you could ever need, accompanied by a somewhat weird picture of the Camerons (does Samantha's hair symbolise it all?). 

It's national adoption week, and Nina Lakhani's Indy article suggests that the current adoption system is not working with local authorities preferring to pay annual expenses for care rather than a short-term expense for agency adoption.  H/t ToryDiary. 

This looks really cool: Sukhdev Sandhu's Night Haunts: A Journey Through the London Night. 

Finally, some history of the kings and queens variety, with the Literary Review onto two new books about Catherine of Aragon and Henrietta Maria, respectively. 

I have been reading a lot of Left Foot Forward today.  Along with my usual Guardian reading habit, this means that today's Britain Today is wearing a nice warm cardigan and a CND badge.  (I am wearing a fleece, if you must know.) 

Steve Tombs and David Whyte write on why health and safety laws matter.  (I live in hope that New Generation Labour will be keener on the debunk boogie than the tabloid bandwagon hop.)

A couple of interesting articles, one from Sarah Barber in LFF and one from the always good Jackie Ashley look at the impact of the government spending cuts on women.  

Datablog has data and (breathless voice) a chart (!) on government spending.  You can download it and do things with it (dinner and dancing, perhaps). 

Keeping on the spending and fairness front, pick of the bunch today is Ben Baumberg on 'Should we defend the middle class welfare state?' in which I (with my C grades in economics) learnt all about means testing and universalism.   

Finally - football, Liverpool, league sustainability.  Esoteric stuff.